48 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the stellar universe, of the chemical composition and physical properties 

 of matter in its various forms, and to analyze, comprehend and subdue 

 the forces of nature. 



By the application of these discoveries to his own purposes Man has, 

 to a large extent, overcome time and space; he has studded the ocean 

 with steamships, girdled the earth with the electric wire, tunneled the 

 lofty Alps, spanned the Forth with a bridge of steel, invented machines 

 and founded industries of all kinds for the promotion of his material 

 welfare, elaborated systems of government fitted for the management 

 of great communities, formulated economic principles, obtained an in- 

 sight into the laws of health, the causes of infective diseases and the 

 means of controlling and preventing them. 



When we reflect that many of the most important discoveries in ab- 

 stract science and in its applications have been made during the present 

 century, and, indeed, since the British Association held its first meeting 

 in the ancient capital of your county sixty-nine years ago, we may look 

 forward with confidence to the future. Every advance in science pro- 

 vides a fresh platform from which a new start can be made. The human 

 intellect is still in process of evolution. The power of application and of 

 concentration of thought for the elucidation of scientific problems is by 

 no means exhausted. In science is no hereditary aristocracy. The army 

 of workers is recruited from all classes. The natural ambition of even 

 the private in the ranks to maintain and increase the reputation of the 

 branch of knowledge which he cultivates affords an ample guarantee 

 that the march of science is ever onwards, and justifies us in proclaim- 

 ing for the next century, as in the one fast ebbing to a close, that 

 Great is Science, and it will prevail. 



